BRATTLEBORO — The Vermont Jazz Center will present its annual Big Band Gala Performance on Friday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m.
The VJC Big Band, under the leadership of musical director Rob Freeberg, is a community orchestra of professional musicians who come together to raise money for Jazz Center scholarships.
This year's gala, its 16th, will feature the music made famous by the legendary clarinetist and bandleader Artie Shaw. The VJC will supplement its 16-piece big band with four affiliates of the renowned Artie Shaw Orchestra (ASO).
Together, they will perform an evening of dance music using original arrangements that helped the orchestra surge to stardom in the 1930s.
The three current members of the Artie Shaw Orchestra who will perform with the VJC Big Band are vocalist Sarah Hayes, clarinetist Matt Koza (ASO music director), and trumpeter Kerry MacKillop.
Former orchestra member John Wheeler (and current trombonist for the VJC Big Band) will be showcased as a soloist.
All money raised from this annual gala will go directly to the VJC's Scholarship Fund, which serves as the primary funding source to assist the center in offering an average of over $17,000 each year to help students attend ensembles, private lessons, and the center's annual summer jazz workshop.
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The use of the original arrangements of the Artie Shaw Orchestra by a band other than the current ASO is extremely rare. The Jazz Center is very, very grateful to have been gifted the use of Shaw's esteemed repertoire for this one-time performance.
This body of work has been well-loved by generations of big band aficionados; its familiar melodies, the ingenuity of the arrangements and its nostalgic essence form a force that brings together a community of people who consider Shaw's classic repertoire to be their dance music.
Artie Shaw, in the top echelon of bandleaders during the Swing Era's height of popularity, was keenly aware of his audience's love for social dancing and the dance steps of his day. He set his orchestra's music to tempos that were perfect for the dance moves of the times.
As an example, Begin the Beguine, which will be performed at the gala, has been hailed as the perfect fox-trot.
The Artie Shaw Orchestra has always had a reputation for precision: the saxophone and brass sections were renowned for their ability to produce a focused sound that was enhanced by nuanced dynamics and unified phrasing.
When listening closely to its recordings, especially those from the late '30s and early '40s, one hears that both sections are unified in perfect synchronization: each section phrases together as one big, glorious, harmonized instrument.
The Orchestra's sound was so clean and elegant that it became the band's signature.
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Another major appeal of the Shaw Orchestra was the masterful clarinet playing of its leader.
Artie Shaw, who died in 2004, was a consummate musician and a tremendous improviser; he was the featured soloist in virtually all of his early recordings and was considered the best clarinetist of his time. In fact, there was a palpable rivalry between Shaw and Benny Goodman.
Shaw's obituary in The Washington Post stated: “On clarinet, Mr. Shaw had a fuller, more-dulcet tone than Goodman. Although Goodman was labeled the 'King of Swing,' jazz enthusiasts still debate whether Mr. Shaw better deserved the sobriquet, and his fans compensated by dubbing him the 'King of the Clarinet.'”
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The Vermont Jazz Center Big Band will perform Artie Shaw's timeless and swinging music in the company of four musicians who currently perform (or have recently done so) and tour as the Artie Shaw Orchestra.
Clarinetist Matt Koza, the ASO's music director since 2000, will be a featured soloist. He has studied the music of Shaw under the guidance of another clarinet master, Dick Johnson, and he has mastered the stylistic demands of the clarinet's function in swing music.
The vocalist for this year's gala, Sarah Hayes, has worked with Benny Powell, Les Paul, Ken Peplowski, Steve Williams, Dick Hyman, Cándido, Jay Leonhart, Joe Cohn, Lee Musiker, Jack Wilkins, Christian McBride, Bob Kaye, Bobby Porcelli, and many others. She also performs with her own septet, Swing Society, and has appeared as a special guest with the legendary Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Joining the VJC's trumpet section is Kerry MacKillop. He has toured the world with the Artie Shaw Orchestra and the Woody Herman Band and has shared the stage with Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Bennett, Buddy DeFranco, Dick Johnson, Billy Eckstine, Rosemary Clooney, Joe Lovano, Frank Sinatra Jr., Helen Forrest, Margaret Whiting, and Helen O'Connell, to name just a few.
The featured trombonist for the VJC Big Band is John Wheeler, a former member of the ASO. His recording credits include work with numerous musicians, a few of which include Mariah Carey, George Benson, the Gypsy Kings, Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross, Patti Austin, Marc Cohen, Toni Braxton, Jody Watley, Terence Trent D'Arby, and Will Smith.
The VJC is fortunate to have board member Rob Freeberg guiding the VJC Big Band as its musical director. Freeberg ran the music department at New Rochelle High School, conducted a youth orchestra at Lincoln Center, and led his own professional, award-winning large ensemble.
The VJC Big Band was originally the brainchild of Howard Brofsky and Sherm Fox and happily celebrates 16 years in 2018 thanks in great part to Fox's persistence and organizational efforts.
The performers of the VJC Big Band include trumpeters Don Anderson, Rick Anderson, Charlie Schneeweis, and Freeberg; woodwind players Michael Zsoldos, Fox, Bob Stabach, Larry Tutt, and Nick Pelton; trombonists John Wheeler, Bob Thies, and Caroline Cole, and rhythm section members Steve Cady (bass), Steve Rice (drums), and Eugene Uman (piano).
Between 1935 and 1945, one could experience this music live and dance to the touring ensembles of Artie Shaw, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, and the Dorsey Brothers.
There is no substitute for listening and dancing to this music live - and all while raising money for the VJC Scholarship Fund.